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Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

nytimes.com

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Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#41

Post by wsh91 »

rudolf0 wrote: post #17
wmeredith wrote: post #4

Gross. I thought a Google in bed with the Obama administration was unsettling. One in bed with the GOP and Trump is terrifying. Google has the keys to the muslim registry, and every other kind of registry you could imagine in every country it operates.

I doubt Google or any other SV corporation would ever agree to help with a Muslim registry. Even if somehow the top leadership of such a company were to agree (which I doubt), you'd see defections, sabotage, and heavy leaks almost immediately.

http://neveragain.tech/ has a ton of Googlers on there. I'm among them.

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#42

Post by redthrowaway »

curt15 wrote: post #32

They need to get out in front of Oracle, which is probably the Silcon Valley company least associated with the hippie liberal stereotype and thus most likely to get Trump's ear if they want to make life hard for their competitors.

Pretty sure any company with Thiel on its board is sitting pretty.

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#43

Post by andrewclunn »

So long as the government contracts and regulatory favoritism are such a big part of picking winners and losers you can bet this sort of thing will happen. Now we have a President who knows he won in spite of many of these big money interests (who overwhelmingly backed Clinton). That people here are complaining about the companies for now acting in their own self preservation, while also condemning money in politics is just... well it's the sort of double think that is best explained by political tribalism.

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#44

Post by mahyarm »

dgfgfdagasdfgfa wrote: post #13
r00fus wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're blaming tech giants for the rise in inequality, authoritarianism and intolerance? It's like blaming Apple or Spotify that your favorite artists aren't as good as they used to be. Fine, be happy the veil is off (tech giants are corporations and when push comes to shove are about money), but honestly you need to look at the petroleum industry, security & prison industrial complexes and their bought politicians t…

> Fine, be happy the veil is off (tech giants are corporations and when push comes to shove are about money), but honestly you need to look at the petroleum industry, security & prison industrial complexes and their bought politicians to see the worst. I must admit, the difference is hard for me to see. Though the tech companies may not be getting rich directly off the backs of the poor, they are just as destructive…

That is like blaming commercial landlords for letting payday loan companies / rent space to these people or letting telecoms let criminals communicate on their networks. When your infrastructure, the good and the bad will use it and you don't want to be in the job of determining who is good or bad.

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#46

Post by tyingq »

guelo wrote: post #34
arebop wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palantir being the exception that proves the rule.

Doubt they're the only one. For all the talk of noble ideals in SV the only real principle is money.

Facebook and others are, at the very least, aware of the purpose behind those various "Quizzes" that are posted using their advertising platforms.

Edit: A reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/the-secret-agenda...

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#47

Post by camus2 »

TorKlingberg wrote: post #29
protomyth wrote: post #3

This is probably going to be a hard problem for a lot of companies. Spending quite a lot of money on Democrats and little on Republicans looked like a good strategy given the polling, but now they have to deal with a office holder that is not the least concerned with building bridges and has a bit of vengeful streak. Not to mention all the contacts they have built up in the permanent staff might not be there as long…

I wonder if Google employees will revolt, if the company does as you suggest and order them to not say or do anything that might anger Trump.

> I wonder if Google employees will revolt

what would be intended result? to go against orders from the upper management?

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#48

Post by leesalminen »

protomyth wrote: post #39
abraves10001 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree. My statement sounded far too overarching. Obviously, a lot of jobs are handouts in form of repayment. I don't think this should be encouraged but I don't think a law banning former federal employees is going to diminish the numerous concerns that lobbying brings up and potentially diminishes the quality of people advising current government.

I got your meaning (and think the down voting on your original comment is a bit harsh), but the pendulum is probably due to swing the other way, hard. I really don't know what a good balance point is. I have heard a 5 or 7 year ban bandied about, and maybe something time-based is the answer. I think until it goes to a total ban we won't find the true balance point.

The pendulum anaolgy is an excellent way of describing how politics in this country works. I've used it often over the past several weeks.

One option would be to limit how long someone can work for a lobbying organization (instead of how long must wait before lobbying after government service).

What if we restored the importance of civic duty in our society? Top talent could be incentivized to work for the government for non financial reasons.

I don't think anyone knows the answer to this problem (yet), but it is a large problem worth solving.

Personally, I do feel strongly about civic duty. But after having (briefly) worked on government contracts I found an incredible amount of waste, cronyism and general ineptitude to turn me off. So I joined the software startup world instead ;).

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#49

Post by protomyth »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #36

It's January. Mark this as "least surprising story of 2017" and it will still be true at the end of the year. Political parties sell themselves to voters as "be on our team". The other team wants to rape women or murder babies, don't vote for them. Corporations vote with money instead of with votes. When you vote with votes and the other guy wins, you lose. When you vote with money and you pay both sides, you always…

> The other team wants to rape women or murder babies, don't vote for them.

quite literally in the election of 1800 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zTN4BXvYI

Re: Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans

#50

Post by brian-armstrong »

arebop wrote: post #21
rudolf0 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt Google or any other SV corporation would ever agree to help with a Muslim registry. Even if somehow the top leadership of such a company were to agree (which I doubt), you'd see defections, sabotage, and heavy leaks almost immediately.

Palantir being the exception that proves the rule.

Pedantic aside: This isn't the right way to use this phrase. The exception that proves the rule is the data point that demonstrates that it makes sense to call it a rule and not just something which is always true.

'Dogs bark' is proven a rule by cats meowing, not by a dog that doesn't bark

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